Efficient conversion of furfural to succinic acid using cobalt-porphyrin based catalysts and molecular oxygen

Abstract

Metallo-porphyrins have a wide range of applications in both industrial and academic research. This study presents newly designed heterogeneous catalysts comprised of cobalt-porphyrin immobilized on amino-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT-NH2), which have been synthesized and characterized for potential applications. Five different porphyrin structures were utilized, and the catalyst was thoroughly characterized by various spectroscopic techniques, such as XRD, FT-IR, UV–Vis, 1H NMR, MALDI-FT-ICR MS, N2 adsorption, XPS, and SEM-EDS. The study investigated the catalytic activity of cobalt-porphyrin immobilized on CNT-NH2 in the conversion of furfural to succinic acid using molecular oxygen, with excellent selectivity of 89 % and a yield of 60 % after a 20 h reaction at 100 °C, 3.0 MPa oxygen pressure. The catalyst showed exceptional stability upon multiple reuse, indicating negligible activity loss, highlighting its potential for the efficient aerobic oxidation of biomass-derived platform chemicals into valuable end-products, and underscoring the promise of cobalt-porphyrin immobilized on CNT-NH2 as a catalyst.